More than 100 guests celebrated the opening of the Raymond G. Perelman Center for Jewish Life at Drexel University with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 26. Construction for the new facility at N. 34th Street was made possible with the help of a $6 million gift from Perelman. It is the first building at Drexel constructed entirely through private philanthropy.

Drexel closed fiscal year 2016 by raising $120.7 million in outright gifts and pledges, surpassing the University’s goal by $700,000 and beating FY2015 by $5.3 million. This marks the third year in a row of achieving a record-breaking fundraising total.

Amtrak, Brandywine Realty Trust, Drexel University, PennDOT and SEPTA unveiled the Philadelphia 30th Street Station District Plan and announced the initiation of several follow-on projects to improve the immediate station area and catalyze future development throughout the District.

Drexel University broke ground on an expansion of the Korman Center, a 1958 building at the heart of Drexel’s campus that has served as a University landmark for decades. An $8 million gift from the Hyman Korman Family Foundation, paired with another $8 million from the University, will make the Korman makeover possible. The project will also create a classic campus green in the open space in front of and around the Korman Center, a popular student hangout known as the “Quad.”

May 16, 2016
President Fry was the guest speaker last month at Nirma University’s convocation in Ahmedabad, India. Fry also visited the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and met with alumni and Indian students accepted to Drexel.

Radnor Property Group LLC and Drexel broke ground on a new mixed-use development project, Vue32, in University City. The new complex, designed by Erdy McHenry Architecture, will include a 176,000+ square-foot 16-story residential tower, for-sale townhomes, a Nobel Learning Communities preschool and a community plaza with spectacular views to Center City.

May 9, 2016
This spring, President John A. Fry has been bringing his experience with urban development and community planning to a course on Jane Jacobs’ “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” in the Pennoni Honors College.

April 8, 2016In town hall meetings at Drexel’s Center City and Queen Lane campuses, President John A. Fry said communication between colleges sparked the successes of the past year and detailed how it will be even more important in the years to come.

March 3, 2016John A. Fry’s annual president’s report shows off the fruits of 2015 — prioritizing ‘right fit’ students and investing in financial aid, co-op support and advising and collaborations with other like-minded organizations.

March 2, 2016
Drexel and Brandywine Realty Trust made history as they announced their partnership and unveiled plans for Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Yards innovation development, a 14-acre master planned community. Initial phases of the projected 20-year development plan will consist of 5 million gross square feet of mixed-use real estate on a 10-acre site next to Drexel’s main campus and adjacent to Amtrak’s 30th Street Station and Brandywine’s Cira Centre.

The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber) has announced that Drexel President John A. Fry will serve as its Chairman beginning in October 2016. He has been a member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors since 2010 and a member of its Executive Committee since 2011.

Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey will join Drexel University as the inaugural Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation, a new cross-university strategic initiative that aligns Drexel’s academic work with the real-world need for urban revitalization. He also will be affiliated with the Department of Criminology and Justice Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

October 22, 2015
President John A. Fry and a group of Drexel colleagues will take advantage of every minute of an upcoming trip in China and Korea. The itinerary includes stops at academic partners in China and a celebration of a new research and co-op partnership in Korea that gives students access to cutting-edge research and nanotechnology.

Drexel University’s School of Public Health has been named the Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health in honor of a transformative $45 million gift from longtime philanthropists Dana and David Dornsife widely known for their humanitarian efforts. The couple has donated a total of $58 million to the University.

May 6, 2015
Drexel’s Center City Campus was the site of the final scheduled town hall for 2015 as President Fry discussed the next phase of the University’s strategic plan designed to be carried out over the next four years.

April 24, 2015
Continuing his series of town halls on the strategic plan, President John A. Fry talked with faculty and professional staff at the Queen Lane Campus about the future of Drexel, including Queen Lane specifically.

April 17, 2015
In the second of four scheduled town halls on Drexel’s strategic plan refresh, Fry touched on the goals of the plan, which included promoting social justice and upping the ante on research.

April 17, 2015
Drexel has named M. Brian Blake, PhD, as the University’s next provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. Blake, who comes to Drexel from the University of Miami, where he is vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the Graduate School, will begin his new position on Aug. 1.

April 2, 2015
President John Fry discussed increasing engagement with Philadelphia, expanding the University’s global reach and implementing a new recruitment philosophy in the first town hall to discuss a refresh of Drexel’s strategic plan.

January 28, 2015
Since the best way to understand an institution is to hear (and see) its stories, John A. Fry's annual President's Report features more than a dozen stories and videos about the projects and achievements that make Drexel special.

December 16, 2014
For the 18th year, the Drexel community collected toys and donations for needy Philadelphia children to make the holiday season a little brighter. Leaders from community groups gathered with Drexel faculty and staff for the distribution ceremony which featured a visit from a certain man in a red suit.

October 31, 2014
Department of Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch visited Drexel on Oct. 30 to announce a $2.5 million award from the Commonwealth to support the “Philadelphia 30th Street Station District Plan.”

October 14, 2014
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania Jim Cawley visited Drexel University’s campus on Oct. 10 and announced a $5 million Economic Growth Initiative Grant to assist in the development of the University’s Innovation Neighborhood development project.

Thanks to a $5 million gift from the Raymond and Ruth Perelman Education Foundation, Drexel University transformed the center of its campus along 32nd Street, between Chestnut and Market Streets. The resulting hub, known as the Raymond G. Perelman Plaza, opened to the campus community on Sept. 30. The University marked the occasion with a celebration and dedication ceremony.

September 17, 2014
Drexel University’s School of Law will be named the Thomas R. Kline School of Law in honor of a landmark $50 million gift that will transform legal education at Drexel for generations to come, Drexel President John A. Fry announced today. The commitment by Kline, one of the nation’s most respected and influential trial lawyers and a champion of the elevation of trial advocacy training for law students, marks the largest single gift in the University’s history.

May 28, 2014
President John Fry and a Drexel University delegation just returned from China, where they joined a tour of the country by The Philadelphia Orchestra and met with leaders to create and strengthen connections with several higher-education institutions there.

May 7, 2014
Drexel is trying to reduce expenses and increase revenue, but it has little to do with the current state of its finances. Instead, it's about making sure the University improves its competitive position in a changing higher-education landscape.

Drexel University’s museum-quality collection of more than 12,000 garments, textiles and accessories has been renamed The Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection in recognition of a $1 million commitment from Robert (Hon. ’13) and PennyFox (Hon.’13). A ribbon-cutting event and reception will take place in early May.

December 16, 2013
Too often, President John Fry said last week, Drexel's Center City Campus has been treated as an offshoot, entirely separate from the University City Campus. It's time for that to end, he said.

December 13, 2013
Seven months before its scheduled closing date Drexel University President John A. Fry announced the conclusion of the University’s comprehensive fundraising campaign, “Dream It. Do It. Drexel. A Campaign for the Future.” The campaign’s public phase was launched in November 2011 with a goal of reaching $400 million and was expected to conclude in June 2014, but ended early with its goal already exceeded by $55 million.

December 4, 2013
Dollars and cents were a frequent topic of conversation at President John Fry’s town-hall meeting for faculty at the University City Campus this week, and Drexel’s financial numbers paint an optimistic picture, Fry said.

November 18, 2013
What will Philadelphia look like in 30 years, and what role will Drexel play in its transformation? President John Fry and Mayor Michael Nutter addressed these questions at last week's CityAge gathering at Drexel.

November 11, 2013
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia CEO Steven M. Altschuler, Drexel President John A. Fry and Hebrew University of Jerusalem President Menahem Ben-Sasson signed a research agreement today as part of Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter’s trade mission to Israel. The research partnership is designed to focus on pediatric translational research and to develop a collaborative platform for advancing pediatric medicine from the lab to the bedside.

November 1, 2013
Drexel University and American Campus Communities celebrated the next major residential and retail milestone in University City with a ceremonial groundbreaking on Friday, Nov. 1 for the $170 million, 24-story development on Lancaster Avenue and 34th Street. The development will be the largest project in both Drexel and American Campus history and will feature student housing, retail space and a dining center. American Campus representatives and University trustees joined Drexel President John A. Fry and the Drexel community for the groundbreaking.

What will cities look like in the future? Who will live in them? How will people travel between them? These are just some of the questions facing politicians, investors and innovators – people who have the power, motivation and vision to shape their answers. Hundreds of these visionaries and decision-makers will come together at Drexel University’s Behrakis Grand Hall on Nov. 13-14 to continue a dialogue about “the New American City.”

October 28, 2013
President Fry will once again welcome faculty and professional staff to a series of strategic plan town halls billed as “A Conversation on Progress at Drexel.” The events begin next week.

October 9, 2013
The man who brought the U.S. Open Squash Championships to Drexel University three years ago will now serve as the leader of the sport’s national governing body. The Board of Directors of US Squash announced that it has elected Drexel President John A. Fry to serve as the 45th chairman in the association’s 109-year history.

October 1, 2013
Drexel University announced the launch of the Center for Hospitality and Sport Management, reporting directly to the provost. Formerly in the Goodwin College of Professional Studies, the freestanding Center will include programs in sport management, hospitality management, culinary arts and food science. It will be headed up by Dr. Jonathan Deutsch, who previously directed Drexel’s hospitality, culinary and food science programs.

Drexel University President John A. Fry announced today that Dr. Susan C. Aldridge, a senior fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and former president of the University of Maryland University College, will join Drexel in the new position of senior vice president for Online Learning and president of Drexel e-Learning, effective Oct. 15.

July 15, 2013
Drexel President John A. Fry will host a breakfast event to welcome more than 60 WorkReady Philadelphia summer interns to the University’s campus. The high school interns will be working in a variety of academic and administrative units across the University.

Drexel University is creating a seed funding, incubation and technology transfer enterprise called “Drexel Ventures,” with the goal of spurring technological advancements with real-world applications. The program, which supports Drexel’s strategic priority of fostering economic development in the area, will make it easier for researchers to enter into partnerships with the private sector and translate their work into the marketplace.

June 10, 2013
Drexel President John Fry traveled to New York City on Friday to testify before the chairman and members of the Committee of Transportation of the U.S. House of Representatives on the future of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor and the benefits of private involvement in train service along the corridor.

June 5, 2013
Drexel University and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation hosted a check presentation celebration on Wednesday, June 5, in honor of the Aberdeen Charitable Foundation’s commitment to provide $90,000 of funding over three years to Mantua in Action, a youth development program for middle-school students in Mantua.

Thanks to a grant from the William B. Dietrich Foundation, Drexel University was able to renew and restore major aspects of its Anthony J. Drexel Picture Gallery, which included the installation of a new skylight and aesthetic improvements that update the space to today’s museum standards.

April 15, 2013
For the first time in Drexel’s history, works of art and archival artifacts from across the University are being exhibited together during A Legacy of Art, Science & Industry: Highlights from the Collections of Drexel University. The Drexel community is invited to an opening reception this Friday, April 19, beginning at 5 p.m.

April 5, 2013
Drexel University President John A. Fry and Drexel faculty and administrators will join Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s delegation to Brazil and Chile. The trip is scheduled for April 6-16 and will include stops in Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo, Florianopolis and Rio de Janeiro, along with Santiago, Chile.

April 4, 2013
For the first time in Drexel University’s history, the most treasured works of art and archival artifacts from around the University will be exhibited together during A Legacy of Art, Science & Industry: Highlights from the Collections of Drexel University. Approximately 90 objects spanning the 15th through 20th centuries, including paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings, rare books, historical documents, political posters, historical costumes and even a surgical amputation kit, will be on display.

April 2, 2013
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano traveled to Drexel University to announce seven colleges and universities competitively selected to participate in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Campus Resilience Pilot Program. DHS will work with Drexel and six selected colleges and universities to draw on existing resources, collaborate with federal, state and local stakeholders and identify new innovative approaches to promote campus resilience.

Drexel University President John A. Fry and a delegation recently traveled to Ethiopia to explore possible University programs in the country’s urban and rural areas. Fry was joined by Dr. Shannon Marquez, associate dean of Drexel’s School of Public Health, and philanthropists and University benefactors Dana and David Dornsife. A 1983 Drexel alumna, Dana Dornsife together with David helped establish Drexel’s Dana and David Dornsife Center for Community Partnerships with a $10 million gift to the University.

February 18, 2013
Drexel is wrapping up a unique new exchange program that brought a group of high-school English teachers from Brazil to the United States for six weeks of intensive English language training and professional development. A farewell reception for the group takes place Thursday.

Thanks to a $5 million gift from the Raymond and Ruth Perelman Education Foundation, Drexel University will reimagine the center of its campus along the former 32nd Street between Chestnut and Market Streets. The resulting hub for the Drexel community will be known as The Raymond G. Perelman Plaza.

January 30, 2013
Thanks to $12.5 million in recent gifts from the Charles and Barbara Close Foundation, Drexel University will establish the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship that will be one of a very small number of freestanding schools of entrepreneurship in the nation and the only one in Philadelphia.

December 5, 2012
Drexel University has announced it will open an office in Washington, D.C. that will serve as a multifunctional academic and outreach center for the University and its online subsidiary Drexel University Online.

November 29, 2012
Drexel University representatives are participating in a delegation to China led by Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter in an effort to raise Philadelphia's international profile, develop business opportunities and renew discussions about direct flights between the city and that country.

November 26, 2012
Drexel University’s annual economic impact within Pennsylvania through its spending, increased earning power of alumni and the spending of students and visitors to Drexel is $2.4 billion, according to a new study by the Econsult Corporation that was released by the University. Drexel’s annual economic impact within the city of Philadelphia is $1.5 billion.

November 26, 2012
Music technology, humanoid robots, app development, video games, and digital knitting machines will converge with many other technologies in one creative space when Drexel University opens its Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center on Nov. 28.

October 25, 2012
Drexel University President John A. Fry announced today that philanthropist Philip B. Lindy will receive the 2012 Joseph Jacovini Outstanding Service Award, the highest honor that the University bestows upon non-alumni in recognition of their service. The award will be presented on Saturday, November 17, at the annual Anthony J. Drexel Society Gala, Drexel’s premier annual black-tie event.

October 4, 2012
With the help of a $10 million gift by Dana and David Dornsife, Drexel University President John A. Fry announced today the establishment of the Dana and David Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships to be located on a 1.3-acre site in the heart of West Philadelphia. Expected to open in 2014, the Dornsife Center will be located at 35th and Spring Garden Streets on a vacant site that currently includes two historical properties and a school totaling more than 29,400-square-feet of space.

June 27, 2012
Internationally recognized clinician in pediatric diseases Dr. Daniel V. Schidlow has been appointed Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and senior vice president, medical affairs at the Drexel University College of Medicine. Schidlow will assume the role from his current position as interim dean and senior vice president.

June 7, 2012
A Drexel University delegation led by Drexel President John A. Fry marked the official opening of the Drexel-SARI Center in Shanghai on June 6 with a celebration at the Center that included a performance by musicians from The Philadelphia Orchestra.

June 5, 2012
Drexel University and the Pennsylvania Center in Shanghai celebrated the launch of the Chinese translation of The Man Who Made Wall Street: Anthony J. Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance. The biography of Drexel University’s founder, Anthony J. Drexel, reveals the life of a man who selflessly laid the foundation for later Wall Street giants JP Morgan and others, making possible the United States’ transition from an agrarian society to an industrialized nation. The mandarin translation of the book will be available in China this month. Drexel President John Fry, who is in China leading a delegation of University administrators, was at the celebration announcing the launch of the book.

April 20, 2012
Drexel University President John Fry led a delegation of University administrators, faculty from Drexel’s School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems and College of Engineering, and representatives from Duke University and The Johns Hopkins University and industry partners through a five-day tour of Turkey’s epicenters for research and technological innovation. This Innovation Partnership Forum Delegation, spent time at some of the nation’s top universities, visited innovative “technoparks” and participated in a national biomedical engineering summit.

March 13, 2012
The Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship will transition from a center of excellence within the LeBow College of Business at Drexel to a University-level institute, Drexel University President John A. Fryhas announced.

February 20, 2012
Drexel and American Campus Communities will break ground on a new $97.6 million development that will transform Chestnut Street between 32nd and 33rd Streets into a new gateway for Drexel and University City. Designed by internationally acclaimed Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Chestnut Square will feature 361,200 square-feet of mixed-use student housing and retail space. It’s scheduled for completion September 2013.

February 2, 2012Drexel University and American Campus Communities will transform Chestnut Street between 32nd and 33rd Streets into a new gateway for Drexel and University City featuring 361,200 square-feet of mixed-use student housing and retail space. The groundbreaking event for the estimated $97.6 million project is scheduled for February 21, with a targeted construction completion date of September 2013, announced Drexel University President John A. Fry.

January 31, 2012
Drexel University President John A. Fry is leading a delegation to Israel to attend the second Bi-national Symposium on Translational Research in Biomedicine and Biomedical Engineering, jointly sponsored by Hebrew University’s (HUJI) Institute for Drug Research (IDR) and Drexel.

January 30, 2012
Drexel University has received a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to expand research on the fundamental science of interactions between plasma, which is an ionized gas, and living systems. The research, funded by the W.M. Keck Foundation, will be led by the University’s Anthony J. Drexel Plasma Institute.

A new initiative at Drexel University has an ambitious goal: to advance senior women faculty in the fields of engineering and technology in academic institutions across the United States. Now, thanks to a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this new initiative, the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering program (ELATE at Drexel™), will be able to test just how well this goal is being reached.

Drexel President John A. Fryannounced today that the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel has received full accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA).The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar approved the application at its annual meeting in Toronto, following the completion of an intensive accreditation process.

Drexel University was awarded $10 million by the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation to endow the Coulter Translational Research Partnership program. The University matched the Coulter Foundation’s $10 million grant creating a $20 million endowment to bring life saving solutions to clinical practice by moving promising biomedical discoveries to commercialization.

As Drexel’s 14th president, Fry oversees a university that has grown significantly in the last decade and is ranked in the top 100 of Best National Universities in “America’s Best Colleges” by U.S.News & World Report.